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KTM'S BROOK REFLECTS ON A ‘NEARLY’ PERFECT WEEKEND

195 views • 13/07/2017

The four Queensland championship wins of Wide Bay Motorcycles/KTM Australia rider Jarred Brook at the weekend’s Qld Long Track titles are incredible enough, but few realise the depth of his domination.

The 19-year-old carpenter from Gympie entered five classes for the event, and came to the Mick Doohan Raceway at Banyo hopeful of stamping his authority at what is his home circuit.

He did exactly that. Riding two machines, his KTM 250 SX-F and his KTM 450 SX-F, Brook was a picture of excellence, winning every single heat and final across the weekend, with the exception of one Pro Unlimited final.

Even as the track evolved over the course of the event, his KTMs (and his lightning trigger finger) kept pace with the varying traction levels, delivering him at turn one either with the holeshot or as second wheel on every single drop of the gate!

Despite the quality field Brook won five classes; the Pro Open, Pro 450, MX Open, Pro 250 and U19, however only four titles as the U19 had insufficient competitors to constitute a championship.

Juggling a fledgling road racing career, with a dirt track career in which he is anything but, Brook is disappointed he'll miss this weekend’s ASBK round 4 in Darwin due to a work commitment.

He’ll be back aboard the KTM RC 390 in August as the series continues in Warwick, and is quick to confirm that adapting his very rear-wheel-steering dirt style to road racing to open up potential career options on the tar is still high on his list of priorities.

Jarred Brook: “It meant a lot, being my home track. We’ve had a Queensland title there before in 2015, but it didn’t go quite as I’d wanted. So, it was good to come back and dominate like I did.

I had a few good battles with Sean McLellon and Kayden Downing – they were both riding extremely well and were always right on my tail.

I tried to keep my mind as focussed as possible and nail my starts every time – it makes it a lot easier when you’re not getting rocks thrown at you!

I’ve done lots of testing on both my 250 and my 450 to get the suspension setups 100%, but the engines are basically stock; just cleaned up a little bit and fitted with FMF pipes on both.

The KTMs are such good dirt track bikes because of the amount of power out of the box, and the smoothness of that power. In dirt track, trying to go forward is the big thing, so with the nice, smooth power you don’t spin the wheel as much when the dirt inevitably gets pushed wide and it gets slick. The KTMs love the slick tracks when it gets challenging, with the smooth power delivery.

We couldn’t make Darwin happen, but we’re still definitely doing the road stuff as well, and my next ride is the Morgan Park ASBK in August. We’re loving that; getting faster and faster and learning more each time I ride. Learning how to set it up better, and how to change my style so I can be faster on the track.

It’s pretty hard to compare dirt track to the road bike - they’re completely different animals to ride! Completely different styles and your actions have to be smoother and more flowing on the tar, you can’t just turn it and point and shoot like a dirt bike.

But we definitely still have an eye on road racing in America or Europe as a career goal.”